Hints on "cheaply" getting speaker kits into Australia

[dcourtney]

Hi Guys

I did a whole bunch of research a few months back on DIY speaker sets for home theatre usage and then gave up on the whole idea for a while. Well I'm back again and considering giving it a shot. Previously I had pretty much made my mind up on a gr-research kit found here http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/v...ic.php?t=13407 I'd be looking at kit 1 but probably replace the rears with the standard av1's (As the av1-rs scare me building wise) I was also considering the sonicap upgrade for the front 3 speakers as well.

Anyways to the point of the thread I would need to import these parts into Sydney Australia and I'm a little concerned about all kinds of taxes and duties that they might be applicable for which might blow this kit out of my budget. At the moment the kit including shipping is coming close enough to $1000au

What I'm asking is for feedback from any other aussies who have imported similar quantities and we're there any steps you took to minimise/eliminate any taxes/duties when they arrived?

While I'm here I may as well ask as well in the av1 design they use blackhole for the inside of the speakers. Obviously this isn't feasable to import due to weight are there any cheap alternatives that can be purchased locally that anyone would recommend?

thanks in advance

[kimbo]

I imported four vifa drivers from the US six months ago without a hitch. (and saved a $100 or so from the Jaycar price even with the high postage costs). I too wondered if I needed to get something special on the import declaration or whatever, but I recall that when I looked into it, there was no duty payable for electronic/audio parts. Certainly when they arrived there was no problem. The parcel just turned up at work where I asked it to be sent (I did not want it turning up at home when I wasn't there) and I took them home that night.....no probs!

I'll see if I can find out where I looked up the customs stuff and let you know.

[kimbo]

I went and had a poke around the Australian customs site. http://www.customs.gov.au/ ...it's changed a lot since I last looked.

There is now a section on ordering goods from the internet.
Import/export > import goods > buying over the internet
and Import/export > import goods > general imports.

There are several worked examples. It looks like you will need to pay if the combined GST and duty are above a certain amount ($250), so you may get away with it. If not you could possibly try spliting your order into a couple of parts.

Australian Customs Tariff is listed at
http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=4273

The applicable parts are
Schedule 3 Section 16 – Chapter 85 - 8518…..loudspeakers, whether or not mounted in their enclosures; headphones ….etc. Rate- 5%

Also looking at Schedule 5 is a list of tariff classifications and duty rates which apply to US-originating goods not entitled to a free rate of duty – there was no listing of 8518


I hope this is a help.

[dcourtney]

Hi Kimbo

I appreciate your reply especially going to the effort of looking up the customs site. I will look further into it. Basically I'm hoping to find an answer so I can basically ask gr-research to invoice me either seperately or to a certain ammount as unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any reasonable australian alternatives to build these speakers.

thanks again

[geoffs]

Hi

I have WES http://www.wagner.net.au/pae/Data.htm about 5 mins away from where I live. They stock Peerless, Scan-speak and Vifa. The trick is when ordering parts from them is to Fax a purchase order to them and then they will give you trade prices
instead of the over-the-counter price. They are mainly a wholesale business. Customer service leaves a bit to be desired but they have a massive range of parts.
I have their full cataldog beside me as I type as I was just checking prices for some drivers.

Cheers

Geoff

[f4ier]

Geoff, how much more cheaper are the D-S-T drivers, on average percentage, at trade level compared to retail price level?

Could you give both retail and trade prices for SS 18W/8531G00 woofers and SS D2905/970000 tweeters?

[tktran]

dave,
I've also sent you an email.

f4ier,
In reply to your question, please check your Yahoo email.

regards,
Thanh.

[geoffs]

Hi f4ier


The list price in the cataldog for the SS 18W/8531G00 is $269 ea
and the SS D2905/970000 is $169.
As to what the trade price is I'll give them a ring tomorrow.
Do you have a design in mind for these drivers? As I'm a newbie to this I am looking at making Back loaded horn speaker using the Fostex FE166-esr driver.

Cheers

Geoff

[Bikeman]

Last time I looked into it, it seemed that over $200 au of combined goods/shipping would attract GST and import tariffs.
And if you are using Fedex, they will charge a $50 clearing fee if they have to clear it through customs. D'oh!

My last order was a little under $100 including USPS, and it just turned up at the post office.

If only speakers weren't so fricking heavy....
I wish australia had a local version of parts express or madisound. Jaycar's range is sucking more every year.

Speaking of Parts Express, does anyone know if they will ship to Aus? I couldn't see anything about intl shipping on their site.



Mark

[tktran]

Parts Express do ship to Australia.

Just add items to your Shopping Cart, fill in your details, including AUSTRALIA for country to get a quote.